How to set DJNext up, what it does during a set, and what to do when something doesn't look right. Can't find it here? Ask on Discord or email hello@djnext.live.
From a free trial to suggestions on your phone or tablet.
Start a free 14-day trial with just your email
address. No card, and nothing to cancel: if you don't subscribe, it
just ends. Your license key arrives by email (check spam if it
doesn't turn up). It looks like DJN-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
and covers up to 3 computers.
Needs a Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Download DJNext, open the file, and drag DJNext into Applications. Open it from there.
DJNext lives in the menu bar at the top of the screen, not the Dock. The first time, macOS may ask to let it:
Needs 64-bit Windows 10 or 11. Download the installer and run it. No admin rights are needed: it installs for your user only. If Windows SmartScreen warns you on first run, choose More info, then Run anyway.
DJNext runs in the system tray, by the clock. When Windows Firewall asks, allow it on private networks, or your phone or tablet won't be able to connect.
The DJNext window opens by itself. Paste your key into the License card and press Activate. DJNext finds your DJ software's library on its own and says which one it's reading. If it can't find one, open Library somewhere else? and browse to it.
Closing the window only hides it. Open it again from the menu bar or tray icon, which also shows the state at a glance:
To have DJNext start with your computer, tick Start DJNext when I log in in the window's Startup card.
The suggestions are a web page DJNext serves to your phone or
tablet - nothing to install on them. In the DJNext window's Share
card, scan the QR code, or type the address shown (it looks like
http://192.168.1.20:7777). The phone or tablet has to be
on the same Wi-Fi network as the computer. Use the exact address
shown there: it's that computer's address on your network.
On an iPhone or iPad, Share, then Add to Home Screen, makes it open full screen like an app.
A screen that locks mid-set is no use, and the page can't reliably stop it: browsers only let a secure (https) page keep the screen on, and DJNext's page on your network isn't one. The page tries anyway (the sun at the top shows it's trying; tap it to stop), but the sure way is the device's own setting:
Add a Browser source in OBS with the URL
http://localhost:7777/overlay (the Share card has a copy
button). It slides in with the track, artist, BPM, genre and key
whenever the track changes, then slides out after 30 seconds. Add options to the
URL to change that:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
?hold=0 | Stay on screen instead of fading (or ?hold=60 for 60 seconds) |
?idle=show | Keep showing the last track when nothing's playing |
?key=0 | Hide the key chip |
?meta=0 | Hide the BPM and genre line |
?label=On%20air | Change the "Now playing" label (?label= hides it) |
?anim=drop | How it comes and goes: slide (the default), drop (falls in from the top with a bounce) or fade. The tablet app always fades. |
?slide=right | Slide in from the right (or up, down; the default is the left) |
?fade=800 | Animation speed in milliseconds (default 650 for slide, 700 for drop, 450 for fade) |
Combine them with &, for example
http://localhost:7777/overlay?hold=0&key=0. The overlay
can be restyled with OBS's Custom CSS: colours, fonts and sizes are
CSS variables starting --np- (such as --np-bg,
--np-fg, --np-accent, --np-font,
--np-title-size), and the parts have classes starting
.np. For other tools, http://localhost:7777/nowplaying.txt
is just "Artist - Title".
With the listener requests add-on, add a second Browser source with the URL
https://djnext.live/r/yourname/overlay (copy it from the
Request queue page). Each request shows as its own card, like
the now-playing one, stacked from the bottom up on a transparent background: the next to
play at the bottom, newer requests above it. New requests join the top within a couple
of seconds; a played or skipped one fades
away. DJNext marks a request played on its own when it hears the track, or tap Played on
the Request queue page, where you can also skip, reorder, clear the queue and open or
close requests. Under the stack a small pill says whether requests are open or closed;
the requests themselves show only while they're open.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
?accent=ff2bd6 | The colour of the "Request" label (any hex colour) |
?font=Montserrat | Any Google Fonts family |
?max=3 | How many requests show at once (5 by default) |
?status=0 | Hide the "Requests open / closed" pill under the stack |
?scale=1.2 | Make everything bigger (or smaller, like 0.8). The cards already fit and scale to whatever size you set the source to |
DJNext checks for a new version shortly after it starts and every few hours, and tells you once when there is one. It never installs anything by itself: when you quit, it offers to open the download page. You can also choose Check for updates from the menu bar or tray icon. On a Mac, download the new version and drag it into Applications over the old one; on Windows, run the new installer (it closes DJNext first).
What's on your phone or tablet, and what you can do with it.
The coloured chip is the key on the Camelot wheel: the same number is the same colour, so a safe mix is easy to spot. Keys are converted to Camelot whatever notation your software uses.
The last card is special. A go-to (green border, "your go-to") is a track you play a lot and usually keep, that mixes cleanly from here: the safe option when the floor goes cold. Until DJNext has enough of your history for one, that slot is a wildcard instead: a random pick from further down the list, a different direction that still fits.
Tap Why? on the right of any card for every reason DJNext picked it. The same panel has three buttons:
Your verdicts apply on every computer you use DJNext on. Made without a connection, they're sent when it's back. Search results have Why? too, so you can rule a track out before it ever comes up.
Under the playing track (from version 0.3.66):
Safe to Adventurous and Lift stay as you left them next time; the crate goes back to Any when DJNext restarts.
Tapping a suggestion or a search result makes it DJNext's "Playing" track, and the suggestions move on from there. It doesn't load the track into your DJ software, and it isn't added to your play history until your DJ software actually plays it. Use it to look ahead, or when your software can't report what's playing.
Tap search and type two or more letters of an artist or title. Up to 25 tracks from this computer's library show up.
Anything you've played tonight is never suggested again, and neither is another copy of the same recording. DJNext starts a new night on its own after a 6-hour gap. reset starts tonight over: it clears the played list and counters, and tracks you played earlier can be suggested again. Handy when you've been testing before a set, or when the list says "Nothing compatible left".
DJNext first drops anything that won't mix, then ranks what's left - usually still thousands of tracks.
Every compatible track gets a score. Key matters most, then how fresh a track is to you, then tempo, then whether it's in one of your own crates, then genre. Your history adds a little on top once there's enough of it.
| Move | Shown as |
|---|---|
| Same key | same key |
| One step round the wheel | +1 on the wheel / -1 on the wheel |
| Relative major or minor | relative major/minor |
| Seven steps up | energy boost (+7) |
| Two steps | two steps out |
| Anything else | key clash (ranked low, not ruled out) |
After three tracks in one key, moving on gets a nudge ("moves the set on"), and keeping the direction you've been walking the wheel gets a small bonus.
Only tracks within about 12% of the playing track's BPM are considered (or around double or half, for double- and half-time mixes). Within 2% is best. A bigger move shows how far, like "+6 BPM". Tracks with no BPM aren't suggested while the playing track has one. Analyse your library in your DJ software so key and BPM are there.
DJNext leans towards records you own but haven't been reaching for: "never played" ranks highest, and each play lowers a track a little. This comes from what you actually play with DJNext running, on every computer on your account. A track loaded for under 45 seconds doesn't count as played.
A crate you built by hand says something about your taste, so tracks in one rank higher ("from <crate>"), and if what's playing came from a crate, the first suggestion comes from the same one. Smaller crates count for more. What counts:
What never counts: record-pool and store downloads (Beatport, Traxsource, DJcity, BPM Supreme and the like), crates named for a BPM range ("120 - 129") or only with genre or generic words ("House", "Party", "Peak Time", "New"), smart crates and smartlists, Lexicon playlists, and crates of 1,000 tracks or more. If a crate you care about isn't trusted, give it a name of its own or a date.
The same genre ranks highest, a close one next. A clear jump is marked "(genre jump)" and ranked lower. Consistent genre tags help.
With enough history, DJNext notices tracks you keep pulling early ("you keep pulling this one early"), genre jumps you tend to pull or keep, and - after five sets - the usual tempo shape of your sets ("right for this point in the set").
Five cards from one artist, one crate or one key would be one option shown five times, so the list has one track per artist and spreads across crates and keys where it can.
DJNext reads your DJ software's library and history. It never changes them.
DJNext can only report a play once your DJ software records it, and each program does that differently. None of this loses anything - a late play still counts - it only changes when you see it.
| Software | Shows a new track |
|---|---|
| Serato DJ | 45 seconds after you load it. A track you load on the other deck while one is playing shows once that one is over - ejected, its deck loaded with the next track, or played to its end. A track you cue and swap out never shows. |
| djay Pro | At once when one track plays on its own. While two decks play together, the new one can wait until a deck stops or changes - from a minute to several. That's djay's own behaviour. |
| Rekordbox | After the track has played for a while - from tens of seconds to about a minute. Rekordbox records it then, whatever the other deck is doing. |
| VirtualDJ | Once the track has been audible for 45 seconds, through the channel fader and the crossfader (a headphone cue never counts). The 45 seconds is VirtualDJ's own setting. |
| Engine DJ standalones | About 3 seconds after a deck is playing with its channel fader up. Mid-mix, the track you just brought in wins. |
| Pioneer CDJ/XDJ | About 3 seconds after a player starts playing. |
With Serato, djay and Rekordbox, a track that was already playing when DJNext started shows from the next track on.
If you have more than one installed, the Library card in the DJNext window lists them. Press Switch on the one you're playing from: it says "Switching to..." while it loads, then carries on, with no restart. DJNext remembers your choice. If yours isn't found, open Library somewhere else? and browse to it.
Found automatically (Serato DJ 4, and the Serato DJ 5 beta). Only crates in your Serato library count, not Lexicon playlists synced into it.
Found automatically, in your Music folder's djay folder. A track counts once you press play - loading it isn't enough. Content packs aren't part of your library.
Rekordbox 6 and 7, found automatically and read while it runs. Smart playlists never count as your crates. If DJNext says it couldn't load Rekordbox, Rekordbox is probably busy (analysing tracks, for example): let it finish, then press Switch on Rekordbox again.
Found automatically: the library in VirtualDJ's own folder plus the one VirtualDJ keeps on each drive. Songs VirtualDJ hasn't read tags for yet are read from the files.
No software to install and no prep: run DJNext on a laptop on the same network as the unit.
Connect the laptop to the players' network, and quit Rekordbox on that laptop - it holds the same network ports. Suggestions come from the USB sticks in the players, and play counts from each stick's own history.
An add-on ($1.99 a month, alongside a paid plan): your own request page where listeners search your library and send requests to your phone.
Add requests from your account page, then
claim a username there: 3 to 32 lowercase letters, numbers and
hyphens. Your page is then djnext.live/r/yourname. Nothing
else to set up - DJNext connects to it on its own, within about 15
minutes of buying.
Each listener can send 5 requests an hour (listeners on one venue Wi-Fi may share that allowance). When DJNext isn't running - or 10 minutes after it stops - the page says there's no set running and takes no requests.
Requests open every time DJNext starts, with an empty queue. Tap req on your phone to see them:
New requests reach your phone within about 10 seconds.
Download the plugin from your account page, then in WordPress go to
Plugins, Add New, Upload Plugin. Put
[djnext_requests username="yourname"] on any page or post.
From version 2.5 WordPress shows when an update is out, like any other
plugin, and you can turn on auto-updates for it. Options:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
theme | auto (default), dark or light |
heading | Your own heading text |
limit | How many search results, 1 to 25 (default 12) |
queue | 0 hides the queue |
genres | 0 hides the genre buttons |
width | Maximum width (default 640px, or none) |
align | left (default) or center |
For example: [djnext_requests username="yourname" theme="dark" limit="8"]
Use Add to Twitch on your account page to install the DJNext Requests panel, then enter your DJNext username in the panel's configuration. Viewers see what's playing and can search your library and send requests from under your stream.
Everything here is on your account page. Sign in with your email: we send a link, no password.
$7 a month or $60 a year, after a 14-day free trial. Listener requests are $1.99 a month on top. Subscribe during a trial or a complimentary plan and you keep the time you had left: the first charge comes when it would have ended.
Sign in and it's on your account page. The sign-in email has a link to a page with a Sign in button; the link works once, for 15 minutes.
One key covers 3 computers. Your account page lists them, with how many tracks and plays DJNext has from them. To move to a new computer when you're at 3, Remove one you don't use any more: its synced library is deleted (not your play history) and the slot is free. A computer you remove that's still running DJNext takes its slot back the next time it connects, if one is free.
Each computer keeps the same name in DJNext even if you rename it, unless you delete DJNext's data folder (see DJNext's files).
Your sets lists every set from the last 30 days, on any of your computers. Open one to see the set list with the time into the set, download it as text (ready to paste into a stream description or a tracklist site) or as a spreadsheet file, or have it emailed to you again. A set ends where 45 minutes pass between two tracks, like the set list email. Download a set to keep it longer.
Played an Engine player without DJNext running? The player keeps its own history on your USB stick. The next time DJNext connects to the player and copies that stick, those sets appear here too, marked as played on the player. Tracks DJNext already saw live aren't added twice. A Pioneer stick doesn't record when tracks were played, so its plays count as played across your account but aren't shown as sets.
Library health shows, for each computer, the tracks DJNext is missing something about, and what that costs:
Open a count to see the tracks, or download the list. To fix them, analyse the tracks or fill in their tags in your DJ software, then restart DJNext on that computer so it syncs the change.
Plans lets you build a set ahead of time. Start a new plan and choose the computer you'll play it on - suggestions only ever come from the music on that computer. Add an opener or two by searching, then choose from what DJNext suggests next. Each list is worked out from the whole plan so far, with the same Safe to Adventurous, Lift and crate controls as your phone. The Listen links search YouTube and Beatport, so you can plan away from your music. Remove or reorder tracks any time; it saves as you go.
Give a plan a series, such as "Saturday 10pm" or "Twitch", and tag your played sets with the same series on the Sets page. The planner then flags anything that series played in the last 30 days, or leaves it out, so regulars don't hear the same set twice.
In the booth: on your phone or tablet's DJNext page, tap plan at the bottom and choose a plan (from version 0.3.69). A strip above the suggestions shows where you are in it and what's next; tap it for the whole plan, with what you've played ticked off. Gone somewhere else with the set? Re-plan from here works out the rest from what's playing, keeping the plan's tracks that still fit. The plan stays loaded if DJNext restarts or the venue has no internet.
Or open a plan's Booth view on any device: big type, tap a track once it's played, and the next one is lit. It keeps the screen on while it's open.
Forgotten tracks shows how much of your library you haven't played since DJNext started recording your sets, a random handful to dig through (pick a genre, or Shuffle), and the tracks that have gone quiet - played before, not in the last 90 days. Download either list as a spreadsheet file.
Tracks you pull lists tracks you've taken off a deck within 45 seconds at least twice in 90 days. Previews count too, so it's yours to judge: Don't suggest stops DJNext suggesting one on every computer, and Suggest again undoes it.
With the requests add-on, Request stats shows the last 90 days: how many requests, how many you played (within 4 hours of the request), the most asked-for tracks and the hours requests come in.
Download my data on your account page gives you everything DJNext holds about you. Delete account (type DELETE to confirm) cancels any subscription and deletes it all. Your account page also has Use my play data to improve DJNext. The privacy policy says what's stored and why.
The usual fixes. If none of these help, send diagnostics (at the end).
Check the timing for your software above - Rekordbox and VirtualDJ take a while by design, and djay waits during an overlapping mix. A track already playing when DJNext started shows from the next one. Check the DJNext window is reading the software you're playing from.
Open your DJ software once so its library exists, then check the Library card. If your library is somewhere unusual, open Library somewhere else? and browse to it. "Couldn't load" usually means your DJ software was busy: let it settle, then press Switch on it again.
A red card in the DJNext window means your library couldn't be sent to DJNext's server. Suggestions still work, but only from this computer's own library, and your other computers and your request page don't know this one's tracks. "Too many machines" means your key's 3 slots are taken: remove one you don't use from your account page, then restart DJNext. Other failures are retried on their own.
Suggestions keep working. Your key keeps working for 14 days after it was last checked online (never past its end date), so go online once after renewing. Plays and verdicts made offline are kept and sent when you're back online - your set list email still comes if you reconnect within about a day.
Settings like your key, your library and start at login can only be changed in the DJNext window on the computer itself, not from your phone or tablet.
DJNext keeps its settings, your key and what it learns in a folder
called .djnext in your home folder. Uninstalling leaves it
there; delete it too for a clean start (you'll need to paste your key
again, and that computer takes a new slot).
On DJNext 0.3.62 or earlier, untick Start DJNext when I log in before uninstalling.
Remove the computer from your account page to free its slot.
The quickest way: in the DJNext window, under Diagnostics, write a line about what's going wrong and click Send to support (from version 0.3.68, with your license key entered). It sends the file described below and your note straight to us, and you get a reference number. We reply to your account's email address.
Or choose Save diagnostics from the menu bar or tray icon, or the
button in the DJNext window. It saves a file in the
.djnext folder (named diagnostics- and the
date) with what DJNext found and any recent errors - no music files.
Send it to hello@djnext.live or
share it on Discord
with a line about what went wrong.